Stock Market & Financial Investment News

ForeSee says Amazon tops again in online satisfaction, Netflix rebounds a bitIn a research study of e-retail customer satisfaction, ForeSee said that Amazon.com (AMZN) remains the leader among those surveyed and set a record for the highest score by a retailer measured in its index. Netflix (NFLX) regained some footing to score an 81, up from its all-time low score of 79 during the holiday season. Behind Amazon, the top scorers were Apple (AAPL), QVC (LINTA), Keurig (GMCR) and Avon (AVP). Reference Link

Apple July weekly volatility increases into Q3 and outlook Apple July weekly call option implied volatility is at 56, August is at 31, October is at 26; compared to its 52-week range of 15 to 36, suggesting large near term price movement into the expected release of Q3 results on July 21.

Samsung most popular smartphone maker in Q2, TrendForce saysSamsung (SSNLF) was the most popular smartphone maker in the second quarter, even though the smartphone market has started to slow down, according to data from research firm TrendForce. Smartphone shipments will grow 8.2% year over year in 2015, though that's down from the previously anticipated growth rate of 11.6%, the report says. Samsung has led in smartphone shipments with a second-quarter growth of 26.8%. However, Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge's annual shipment forecast has been marked down repeatedly. TrendForce has also revised Samsung's annual smartphone shipments downwards to 45M units this year. As Chinese vendors are taking more shares of the low- to mid-range product market, Samsung's ability to reverse its fortune may hinge on the success of its Galaxy Note 5. If this device is able to attract consumers with upgraded specs and new features, then Samsung will avoid the high possibility of negative shipment growth for this year. Apple (AAPL) rode on the popularity of iPhone 6 and iPhone 6 Plus in this year's first half and achieved a remarkably strong shipment result in the off-peak season. The next-generation iPhone due to be launched this year offers no major changes in appearance, but Apple has given the device a new A9 processor and upgraded its memory to 2GB LPDDR4 for the first time. These improvements along with the Force Touch module and a camera featuring a possible resolution of 12MP will give the next iPhone a huge boost. Thus, TrendForce's iPhone shipment forecast for this year continues to be very positive with a high growth of 15% upwards. Lenovo (LNVGY) has fallen to No. 6 in the global shipment ranking and is expected to see a 20%-30% decline in this year's shipments. Lenovo's market share did not double as anticipated after its takeover of Motorola in 2014. Moreover, Lenovo did not have a well-defined product positioning strategy and the brand faced strong competition from challengers offering lower-priced smartphone models.

Amazon.com upgraded to Outperform from Market Perform at CowenCowen analyst John Blackledge upgraded Amazon.com to Outperform based on expectations the company will be number 1 U.S. apparel retailer by 2017, driven by accelerating purchasing growth. Growth is being driven by a much larger selection, ramping 1P brand relationships and superior fulfillment and technology. BlackLedge said Amazon's long-term investment philosophy in massive retail and technology markets is increasingly paying off and should continue to win as it attracts U.S. retail TAM as wall as International e-commerce leadership. Further, he expects Amazon.com's leadership to continue in the fast-growing public cloud market. BlackLedge raised his price target on Amazon shares to $565 from $435.

Analysts down on Apple Watch sales, AFP reportsCertain analysts have said that Apple's new smartwatch is not a mainstream hit due its disappointingly low sales figures, AFP reports. A study from Slice Intelligence suggests that Apple Watch orders have decreased 90% since the week the device made its debut, the report says. In response, BMO Capital Markets said it told investors that they were "disappointed" and reduced their estimate for Apple Watch sales in the upcoming year, the report adds. Richard Windsor at Edison Investment Research said that even if Slice is off the mark about the plunge in Apple Watch orders, it was evident that the wearable has sold way less than even conservative expectations, AFP says. Reference Link